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State Senate passes legislation designed to curb growing problem of scrap metal theft

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11-22-13 - Florida - This copper wire, allegedly stolen from a windmill farm here, was seized last week by state police. State police arrested 6 suspects, including a 24-year-old Northampton man.
(Massachusetts State Police)

SPRINGFIELD – The state Senate has passed legislation designed to curb the growing problem of scrap metal theft.

Police say they would welcome such legislation as they combat the problem. Those in the scrap metal industry say, however, that some components of the bill would be burdensome on both their businesses and the overall economy.

The legislation, which has since been passed on to House. calls for police to license scrap or secondary metal dealers.

It also requires dealers, in part, to obtain identification of sellers and retain records of their exchanges. Dealers who knowingly buy stolen property would then be subject to potential fines or imprisonment.

“I think in the end the bill is laudable,” said state Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield. “It’s a good thing we are trying to do.”

“If it helps us curb the problem of metal theft, which is an epidemic throughout the United States, it is something I would welcome,” said Springfield Police Sgt. John M. Delaney.

Ludlow Police Sgt. Louis Tulik, who recently arrested a man suspected of stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of copper wiring from Ludlow Mills, said he believes the legislation would “help us tremendously.”

Tulik said he wonders, however, if it would be difficult for the industry to implement the proposed changes given the large volumes of scrap metal that the industry deals with every day.

Phil Kasden, president of the New England Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. and director of marketing for wTe Recycling, Inc. in Greenfield, said the industry recognizes the need for regulation.

“They are calling for licensing, which is fine with us,” Kasden said. “Metal theft is no joke.”

The Mass Metals Theft subcommittee of the chapter, however, believes that the Senate bill would hamper the Massachusetts recycling trade because it requires a 10-day holding period that would put it at a competitive disadvantage with other states.

“That’s a big chunk of the economy that would go to another place,” Kasden said.

Kasden described another component of the bill, which could result in license forfeiture for scrap metal companies as “draconian” and something that could potentially penalize “good businesses.”

“These companies have demonstrated a commitment to alleviating the problem by making significant capital investments in systems that maintain state-of-the-art record-keeping and implement a comprehensive communications infrastructure that is available law enforcement agencies,” Kasden said.

The Senate has passed the legislation twice but it has yet to make it into law.

Humason said proponents of the bill include Massachusetts Association of Realtors. Properties that are vacant and on-the-market or are being foreclosed upon are a particularly favored by metal thieves.

Kevin Sears, a partner and broker at Sears Real Estate, said the theft of such things as wiring, piping and even furnace and air conditioning parts from a house has become a costly headache that directly affects property owners and neighborhoods.

The hundreds of dollars that a metals thief might get from a such a break-in, could end up costing a property owner tens of thousands of dollars to replace.

“A lot of time the water isn’t even turned off and it just ruins people’s homes,” Delaney said of copper piping thefts.

Such thefts can make financing difficult and a ripple effect can affect entire neighborhoods, Sears and Delaney said.

“You cannot get conventional financing when the mechanicals in the home are not working,” Sears said.

Under the legislation, metal dealers would be prohibited from accepting such things as signs, manhole covers, railroad tracks and spikes and any item bearing the mark of a government entity, utility company or brewer.

Funeral or memorial markers and copper wire where the insulation has been stripped or burned away would also fall under the prohibition.